A Digital Frontier
by TheTeaDrinker
Summary: Sam Flynn lives a pretty normal life. Eat, sleep, prank his father's company. Or at least, it was his father's company, before he disappeared. Now, with his kind-of-fiancee by his side he has to embark to see something new. The Digital Frontier. Sam Flynn/OC. Based on the 2010 movie, TRON: Legacy.
1. Chapter 1

**1989**

As Kevin Flynn sat down with his son and told him a story, he did not think that it would be the last time he talked to him. He did not think that he would wave goodbye after he spoke to Sam, drive off, and then never see his son again. But, even though the words were not meant to stick with the young boy for the rest of his life, they did.

"The Grid." Kevin began. "A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like? Ships? Motorcycles? Were the circuits like freeways? I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then one day…"

"You got in," Sam said eagerly, already knowing this story, but reveling in it all the same. Kevin chuckled.

"That's right, man. I got in."

Sam smiled up at his father, still sitting in bed but not at all tired. He soaked up the words that his father spoke with clear attention.

"And the world was more beautiful than I ever dreamed. And also, more dangerous than I ever imagined."

Sam situated himself in his bed, and waited for his father to go on.

"Now, I met a brave warrior-"

"Tron!" Sam recalled, trying to prove to his father that he had been always paying attention.

"Buh-bum-bum!" Kevin raised the Tron figurine up and to his son, who took it carefully in his hands. He lit up the lights on the figurine's outfit. "Tron!" Exclaimed his father.

"He fights for the users." Sam stated, with a smile.

"He sure does," Kevin remarked with a laugh. He'd always known that Sam was interested in The Grid, you could tell just by looking around his room. Figures of players locked in disc battles, _Tron_ posters, anything you could think of.

"Man, he showed me things, that I could never imagine, disc battles, fought in spectacular arenas, cycles that raced on ribbons of light, it was-it was so radical."

Sam grinned that the excitement in his father's eyes and his choice of words.

"And together-"

"You built the Grid."

Across the house, Sam's grandmother watched the two talk and laugh with each other, as they always did before Kevin left for work. And when he'd come home, there'd be more stories to tell, more adventures to recount with his son, and sometimes Mia would come over and then Sam would tell her all about the computer world his father had created. The old woman smiled, happy, and went back to her book.

"We built the Grid," Kevin went on. "For Programs _and _Users. Now, I couldn't be in there all the time, so I created a Program in my own image that could think. Like you," he pointed to his son, "and me. And I called him…" he raised up another figurine, and displayed him to the boy for visual effect, "C.L.U."

"Codified Likeness Utility," Sam recited, and looked at his father for approval as he lit up the light on the figure.

"That's right," he smiled, "and C.L.U., Tron and I, we built a system where all information was free and open. It was beautiful." The last part was whispered almost in reverence, as Kevin Flynn actually stared off a bit, lost in the memories of the Grid.

"And then, one day, something happened." He stared straight down at his son, which built curiosity. "Something, extraordinary. A miracle." He added.

Sam leaned forward, "What was it?"

"That'll have to wait 'till next time. I gotta get to work." He ruffled his son's hair a bit and then rested his hand on his shoulder.

"I wanna go with you, dad." He said.

"Yeah? Well, one day, you will." He replied, "I promise."

"To the Grid?" A smiled broke out on the boy's face.

He laughed, "Goodnight, Sam." Dropping a kiss on his forehead, he got off the bed, and started putting on his jacket.

"Hey, what do you say, tomorrow, you and I hit the arcade. You can have a crack at your old man's score."

"Could I maybe…bring Mia along?" Sam's hopeful face couldn't be resisted by even the most stubborn man.

Kevin laughed. "Yeah, of course, we'll bring her along. I still need to beat her at Pac-Man."

"And, could we play together, dad? As doubles? On the same team?"

Kevin paused at the door and looked back at his son one last time, still not knowing it would be the last. He smiled his last smile at his son to him and spoke his last words to him.

"We're always on the same team." Before turning out the light and walking out the door.

Sam watched his father rev the engine on his Ducati through the window, and watched as he drove off into the night, and disappeared from sight.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Next Day**

Mia Gilbert's aunt turned on the TV to watch the news, as she always did on rainy days. Mia herself didn't like to pay attention to the news, as it was usually boring anyway. Instead she stared out her window to the rainy street and wondered what Sam was doing, as they had planned to meet up today and so far she had had no contact with him.

Then she heard something from the TV, it sounded like…

"Turn that up, Aunt Zoey." She ordered, her eyes trained on the television set now. She had heard Sam's father's name. Kevin Flynn was pretty famous, and really smart, so he did show up in the news from time to time, which was the few times Mia was interested.

"…disappeared. He was best known for designing _Tron_, one of the best-selling video games in history. Flynn took ownership of _Encom _in 1982, as the company sky rocket to the top of the video game industry. But things changed in 1985, with the untimely death of Flynn's wife, mother of his young son, Sam." Mia wished the reporter would just hurry up and completely say what had happened. How could Sam's dad, Mr. Flynn, just vanish? "Recently, _Encom_'s board members have been troubled with Flynn's erratic, even obsessive behavior."

"Erratic behavior?" Mia questioned silently, wondering just what was going on.

"With Flynn missing, the company is now in chaos. This afternoon, the board looked to seize control of Flynn's partner Alan Bradly, vowing to return the company to profitability. Loyal to the end, Bradly maintains his belief that Flynn is not missing, and is instead pursuing his dream of, quote, 'A digital frontier to re-shape the human condition.'"

"Even Flynn's most loyal supporters are not acknowledging a difficult truth, Kevin Flynn is-"

The reporter was cut off by a frantic pounding on Mia's front door. Her red curls whipped around as she jerked her head to look at the door. Her aunt was frowning at the TV, so Mia went over and opened the door.

There stood Sam, bike abandoned by his feet, hair and clothes dripping wet, and he looked like he had been crying, but it was hard to tell through the rain.

"Sam, I just heard…on the news," her eyes filled with tears as she looked at him, and then grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, wishing she could do something to help.

But the hug was enough. Sam tightened his arms around his best friend, and cried on her shoulder.

When her aunt finally noticed that the front door was open, she walked over to yell at her niece, but saw the two crying children and realized what was going on. She backed away and let them have their moment, sympathy in her expression.

**2010**

The two 27-year olds were on Sam's motorcycle as he rode through a maneuvering left and right to pass by cars. After years of getting used to Sam's reckless way of driving fast and crazy, Mia no longer tightly clung to Sam's torso and instead loosely held her thumbs in the pockets of his leather jacket.

As they left the tunnel, she noticed a police officer on a back of his own, fully aware that Sam was driving very much above the speed limit. She moved her hand and squeezed his right shoulder, a silent signal that there were police.

She heard him laugh through his helmet, "Relax, Mia."

She grinned too, but he didn't have to know that. "Don't get us arrested just yet," she retorted.

As she predicted, the officer soon started chasing them, his alarm blaring loudly. In response, Sam started revving the engine and gaining speed. Finally, he moved around a large truck which hid them from view for a while, and made a jump off the highway onto a lower street.

When they safely landed, Mia checked to make sure the cop was still on the highway and heard Sam chuckle in victory and smugness.

She hit the side of his chest and then rested her head on his back. "You're such a dumbass," she muttered just loud enough to hear. It only caused his smirk to grow.

They raced through the city, speeding along the streets. As they drew closer to their destination, Mia and Sam looked at the glass room that was the _Encom_ security office. They continued on, and pulled over on the side of the street, a few buildings down.

Sam turned off the _Ducati, _and leaned back as Mia rested her feet on the ground. The two took off their helmets and looked around the street. Sam turned and pressed a quick kiss on her unamused face.

"It was fun, though. You know it was fun." He smirked, knowing she was just messing around.

She slowly moved one leg over the bike fluidly, enjoying as Sam tried to make a subtle glance at her legs clad in black jeans. "Like I said, you're a dumbass."

He laughed and they left their helmets on the handlebars and took off running down the street.

After running for a few minutes, they reached the_ Encom _building and went around to the back, where a large orange securely locked door stood.

Mia kept look-out as Sam let out a slightly nervous breath of air and plugged a decoding circuit into his phone, and then put it up to the door electronic lock and hooked it up. He steadied himself and stared at the screen, and punched in the numbers to start the decoding.

Mia glanced at it over his shoulder, before peering back into the alley again, jumping slightly on the balls of her feet, the adrenaline getting to her a bit.

Soon, the door unlocked and opened, making Sam smirk, which he sent towards Mia, hoping for an impressed look.

She simply raised an eyebrow and suppressed her smile.

"Come on, you idiot." She said, and brushed passed him to pass through the door. Sam unhooked his phone and looked at the door, which was a few feet deep.

"That is a big door," he remarked, before hurrying after Mia.

Inside the _Encom_ building, a woman with an English accent began a presentation in front of all the board members.

"Welcome everybody." She started, "I know its late so I'll skip the pleasantries and hand things over to our chairman, Richard Mackey." She gestured to the man sitting at the front of the table in a reclining meeting chair.

The board members began clapping politely for him as the woman sat down and he sat up. Across the table, assistants were handing out tablets to each person so they could follow along.

"Thank you!" He said loudly, buttoning his front buttons on his suit together quickly. "Thank you, Claire," he acknowledged the woman, who nodded.

He sighed and rested a hand on his chair. "Tonight I am pleased to announce that _Encom_'s last fiscal year was our most profitable, ever." He leaned as his said the last word to emphasize his point.

There was a bit of clapping and cheering from the board members, but it was relatively contained.

Across the building, in the security and low parts of the buildings, Mia and Sam sprinted up the stairs before she stopped him from going up one more flight, remembering that that one was watched by a security camera.

They both paused, and Sam just barely glanced up the staircase to make sure the camera was there.

Then, Mia used her laser pointer and shined the light straight into the camera, which blinded it momentarily, causing a few second window for the two to start running up the concrete steps again, trying to keep their panting breath low and quiet.

Back in the boardroom, Mackey started speaking again.

"At midnight, tonight the twelfth version of our operating system will hit the shelves, around the world. I'm sure it comes as no surprise, who we have to thank. The head of our software design team. A man, whose father's own, uh," at those words, Alan Bradly looked up at Mackey, and for a second he almost thought he was talking about Sam, "notable history with _Encom_ helped make this company what it is today."

He scratched his neck and then pointed at another man at the table, "Edward Dillinger."

Said man nodded his head in thanks to Mackey as the board members clapped.

Alan said nothing, but smiled bitterly and cynically as he looked down at his hands again.

Mia and Sam ran through a door, only to immediately stop at the sounds of clapping. Carefully, Mia shut the door, not wanting to make a sound.

They saw the meeting through a glass door and paused before hurrying on, figuring it wasn't worth it to try and stay and watch.

On the tablets, images and lines began to form and take shape.

"We will making our debut, "Mackey continued, "on Tokyo's index. _Encom_ stock will now trade, around the world, 25/7!" A few whoops came from the members, and they also continued clapping in cheering, proud that they had accomplished this and a little egotistical.

Sam reached the door for the data room first, but Mia caught up quickly, making glances down the hallway before peering into the glass windows and looking at the rows and rows of stored files from _Encom._

Sam used his fake security pass, which opened the door and led them straight inside, unintentionally walking over a security laser, and silently setting off a security alarm, though both didn't know it yet.

Sam held up his flashlight and peered around the room, and the two exchanged nervous smiles and a short kiss.

"Come on, you idiot," he remarked, motioning his head to where they were supposed to go. She gave a quiet bark of laughter and followed after him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Excuse me," Alan held up his hand to say something.

"Yes…" Mackey said slowly, calling on him, "Alan."

"Given the prices we charge to students, schools, what sort of improvement have we made on _Flynn- _Ah, I mean, _Encom OS12_?"

Mackey, not missing the subtle jab about Flynn, stood up a little straighter and taller. "This year we put a 12 on the box." He joked, not letting his control slide.

The board laughed, and Alan gave a small bit of laughter as an unimpressed look resided on his face.

"_OS12 _is the most secure operating system ever released." Dillinger explained, causing Alan to look at him. "The idea of sharing our software, or giving it away for free, disappeared with Kevin Flynn." He apparently didn't miss the remark Alan made, either.

* * *

><p><p>

Back in the data room, Sam had finally found where he was supposed to be and tapped on a circuit shelf, causing it to beep, and then pop out. He pulled a computer chip from the base, and was about to plug it into his phone when Mia stopped him.

"That one," she whispered, pointing to another chip, the right chip.

He gave her a grateful smile and put the wrong one down and replaced it with the correct one and plugged it in. As he did, his screen displayed an 'Uploading' bar, with a percentage line.

At the front of the room, the door beeped open, and a security guard stepped inside. Mia cursed under her breath and hid behind Sam, standing on her tip toes to stare at the screen so she knew when to run.

"I know you're in there!" The guard yelled, his flashlight waving around. "Let's make this easy."

"Come on, come on," Sam whispered a little frantically. Mia drumming her fingers nervously on his back wasn't helping, though it was a bit of a comfort that she was there, with him.

The software was almost finished uploading, just a little bit more, just a little bit more…

The security guard walking slowly through the aisle, flashlight raised and Taser charged and ready.

"Freeze!" He yelled, turning swiftly to where Sam and Mia just were, the shelf still out, but the people gone. The guard turned towards the door, where a young man and woman in a skirt ran out, holding hands.

* * *

><p><p>

"Okay, if there are no more questions, I would like you to meet our next blockbuster." He turned towards the giant display screen behind him. "_Encom OS12_." He clicked a remote to display the software and…

On came a three second video of a dog barking on loop.

"Whoa…a few bugs…" The chairman was at a loss, unable to understand what was going on. Around the table, people began looking through their tablets to try and find the problem, especially Dillinger, since this was practically his software.

But the tablets wouldn't respond and the room was in a state of semi-chaos. Outside the glass doors, Sam and Mia stopped to look as the people in their dark suits struggled to grasp what had happened, and as their dog Marv's video was displayed largely on screen. They smiled at each other, and hurried on to evade the security guard.

"Bear with us one second," Mackey tried to calm the people in the room, and Alan calmly reached for his personal tablet to check something. On the display screen, a news woman began speaking, making Mackey look up.

"_Encom_'s chairman, Richard Mackey is launching _Encom_'s stock information…" As she continued, the Security guard ran past the board meeting, shouting, "They're on the roof!"

"Does anyone know where the master file is?!" Mackey yelled, not able to use his tablet to search.

"I do." Alan said calmly, making everyone pause and look at the man. He held up his tablet, showing them the screen, "it's on the web."

Dillinger started writing some code information to try and hack back into Encom's feed again and to kill the program.

"Shut it down!" Mackey growled, "SHUT IT DOWN NOW!"

"Relax!" Dillinger held up a hand in hopes to calm the man, a smile on his face. The video of Marv disappeared. "Relax," Dillinger leaned back in his chair calmly, "it's under control."

"Relax?" Mackey exclaimed incredulously. "Our most valuable and _most secure _operating system is out there for free! How am I supposed to explain that?"

A woman at the table hid half of her face in her hand, embarrassed at the emotional display.

"I don't know," Dillinger answered, "say it was all, part of the plan. A little gift from Encom." He got up and walked out of the room.

Alan started rubbing his mouth with hand, suspecting and probably confirming who the culprits of this were.

* * *

><p><p>

The couple had already reached the roof and stood on a panel that reached over the side of the building.

Sam looked over at the side, down at the cars and lights and streets.

"Hey, dad." He said quietly, but Mia heard him. She gave him a glance and squeezed his hand before attaching herself to the strap around him.

"Where are you going to run to now?" The guard had finally caught up and started trying to walk across the panel to get to the two deviants.

"Hey, you don't want to do that!" Sam yelled over the wind, hoping the man didn't hurt himself.

"Didn't anyone tell you? Stealing is wrong." The guard slowly continued to come towards them.

"You can't steal something that was designed to be free," Sam explained wisely. Mia gave another glance down at the streets, hoping the nervousness bubbling in her stomach was from breaking into a mulit-billion-dollar company and not from the height.

"Now I got ya." The guard said, a little passionately. Either this guy takes his job very seriously, thought Mia, or he's just weird.

"You're bosses are already okay with this," she told him.

"The hell he is." The guard quickly jabbed back.

"Look, your boss works for the CEO, and the CEO works for the shareholders. Do you know who the biggest shareholder is?" Mia asked, bringing her hand out to try and steady the guard to keep him from falling.

"I don't know, some kid and his girlfriend." The guard guessed.

"Fiancée, technically." Sam corrected.

"You're Mr. Flynn?" The guard asked with a tone almost in awe. Sam gave him a smirk, which Mia flicked him for. She didn't want to shove him, because if he went spiraling off the building she would too.

"Why? This is your father's company." Mia turned around so she was pressed against Sam's chest and wrapped her arms around his torso to keep a good grip.

"Not anymore." Sam answered. And then he leaned backwards, gripped Mia tight and they both fell off the building.


End file.
